This presentation focuses on using the Seinfeld method “Don’t break the chain” to get going with personal projects. Those could be all types of things from learning the piano, a new programming language or achieving a personal goal.

I believe that the Seinfeld method can help break down some of the blockers that we experience when procrastinating, by forcing us to refactor large, unmeasurable and daunting tasks into mini-tasks which are the opposite - achievable, simple and regular. It also helps us to refocus on continual small steps rather than the big picture.

I’m especially keen on how the regular measurement of time spent on a project can give insight, and so I’ve started combining Seinfeld with Pomodoro Technique.

The most important thing is to “make it work for you” - there are all sorts of ways that these techniques can be used to push a project forward or help you to achieve your goal.

Hope that’s helpful!

Thanks to Victor at ustwo London for asking me to talk at their Tech Thursday.

Read more on Seinfeld Technique and Pomodoro Technique. I’m currently using tomatoist as my online pomodoro timer.

Update 11/05/2018: I’ve been using a local install of this HTML Pomodoro timer for the last couple of years now. Output the JSON report that it creates into a couple of processors that count my hours and measure my efficiency. This means that I can ensure that I’m working the right number of hours per week, but also taking a good number of breaks.